WESAK DAY

The Buddhists celebrated Wesak Day today. To people of the Buddhist faith, Wesak Day commemorates the three important events in the life of the Buddha - His Birth, Enlightenment and Passing Away. These events took place on the full moon day in the lunar month of Vesakha, which falls between April and May in our conventional calendar. Officially, the first full-moon in May is designated as Wesak Day in Malaysia. Amongst Buddhists, it is also known as Buddha Jayanti - the Birth of the Buddha.

On this day, my mum, aunts and I visited a Buddhist temple along Tambun Road. We participated in the religious ceremony and paid homage to Buddha.

Buddhists who visited the Buddhist Temple in Tambun Road took turns to 'bathe' a statue of Lord Buddha with fragrant water on Wesak Day. There was a long queue of people waiting to carry out this ritual. Now every wondered why this is done?
In the above pictures, you can see that the statue was placed in a plastic basin filled with the petals of fresh flowers. In some temples the basins are decoreated with flowers to represent the Garden of Lumbini, Buddha's birthplace in India. This 'bathing' ritual is a symbol of purification from bad habits. It was said that when Buddha was born, dragons appeared in the sky spurting two streams of purified water (one cool and one warm) that gently cascaded down to bathe Him. Hence the symbolic ritual of purification is repeated on this sacred day for Buddhists.